AfD Doubles Its Vote
Gregory Hood, American Renaissance, February 24, 2025
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) made a dramatic breakthrough in Sunday’s election, but it was not an outright victory. In the 2021 federal elections, the AfD won 10.4 percent of the vote. It doubled that this year, winning 20.8 percent. It is the strongest party in the former East Germany. The governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) came in third place with its worst result since the end of the Second World War.
Alice Weidel, AfD federal chairwoman and candidate for chancellor, and Tino Chrupalla, AfD federal chairman, at the AFD election party. (Credit Image: © Soren Stache/dpa via ZUMA Press)
Yet, it is doubtful that anything will change. The “center-right” Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won the elections but fell well short of an outright majority. CDU head Friedrich Merz has already ruled out any coalition with the AfD. That means Germany will once again probably get a “grand coalition” with the CDU joining forces with the SPD. Despite the SPD’s historic unpopularity, it will still be in government, while the AfD will not.
The free-market Free Democrats (FDP) and the old-left (and AfD spoiler party) BSW both failed to get five percent of the vote, so will not be in the Bundestag. It is an especially embarrassing result for the FDP, which triggered the election by leaving the previous coalition. The FDP leader has now resigned. Even free market reforms favored by the business community and the “center-right” will probably be impossible if the CDU has to rely on the greens as part of its coalition.
President Donald Trump claimed victory, but he is essentially alone.
LOOKS LIKE THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN GERMANY HAS WON THE VERY BIG AND HIGHLY ANTICIPATED ELECTION. MUCH LIKE THE USA, THE PEOPLE OF GERMANY GOT TIRED OF THE NO COMMON SENSE AGENDA, ESPECIALLY ON ENERGY AND IMMIGRATION, THAT HAS PREVAILED FOR SO MANY YEARS. THIS IS A GREAT DAY…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) February 23, 2025
Incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz is also pledging to make Europe “independent” of the United States.
Some nationalists say Germany is doomed.
🇩🇪 The real loser of the election is … the German people. pic.twitter.com/nbQ1ntJkkm
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) February 23, 2025
Some anti-Germans on X were gloating that Elon Musk (who had backed the AfD) and others had been defeated.
The people of Germany rejected Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Elon Musk, and extremism today.
The message is clear—Musk can’t buy every election.
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) February 24, 2025
After today’s elections, Germans send their greetings to Elon Musk. pic.twitter.com/QOWdvV4Hyj
— Maverick Fella (@RobertPMaverick) February 23, 2025
80% of Germans rejected fascism, Putin, Elon Musk, and JD Vance.
The conservatives won, proving that conservatism doesn’t have to mean fascism—unlike the MAGA movement in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/RPQJNnSGUw
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 23, 2025
Yet, the CDU’s victory could be like that of Pyrrhus: “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.” Indeed, AfD leader Alice Weidel said that the CDU triumph would be “pyrrhic” because the party will have to ally with the SPD or the Greens. The AfD has a secure home base in the east, winning in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, and Thuringia. It won in two districts in West Germany (Gelsenkirchen and Kreuznach) and did extremely well among young people.
The AfD won a commanding victory among those aged 25–34 (Millennials) and came in a strong second among Generation Z. However, it won just 10 percent of voters over the age of 70.
German election results by age cohort. Young voters shifted massively to the far left (Linke) and to the far right (AfD). The established conservative (Union) and Labour (SPD) parties are but shadows of their former selves. Lesson for all establishment parties around the world:… pic.twitter.com/MkCM3JozQ4
— Simon Kuestenmacher (@simongerman600) February 23, 2025
It did not win the youngest voters. That honor goes to “The Left,” a relatively new political grouping. The sex gap is especially deep among Generation Z, whose members are generally either “far right” or far left. Polarization will increase.
It was primarily young women who prevented an actual rightward shift in yesterday’s German elections.
How even more open borders and rising crime will make their lives better, I do not know.
But in a democracy, you get what you vote for. pic.twitter.com/pshktM7pZO
— Ralph Schoellhammer (@Raphfel) February 24, 2025
Die Geschlechterspaltung in der Jugend ist krass. pic.twitter.com/H1GndE9CCy
— Martin Sellner (@Martin_Sellner) February 24, 2025
What next? The AfD, assuming it is not torn apart by internal tensions or banned by the “democratic” government, is in a strong position. It has consolidated its hold on the east. It remains the only party in the Bundestag with a truly anti-immigration position. The CDU, tethered to the unpopular SPD, will find it hard to reform anything. Even the CDU’s program of “independence” from the Yankees will be costly if it means supporting a continuing war in Ukraine, which has hurt the German economy.
The key in politics is to become the sole alternative to stopping the bad things that are happening. President Donald Trump was able to do that, and the AfD took an important step towards that goal yesterday. All the other parties are tied to mass immigration, multiculturalism, and business as usual. The AfD is the second-strongest party in the legislature but does not have any of the responsibility of governing. It stands to benefit if German decline continues, and time is on its side as the establishment’s voters slowly die off.
It is true that the system keeps nationalists out of government, but that also means that the more power nationalists get, the more fragile the system becomes. The AfD is not perfect, but it has not trimmed its sails to get more votes. The future seems open for young Germans again. The best years for German nationalism may lie ahead.
